1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for monitoring game facilities and a game facility. In particular, this invention is suitable for application to a system adapted to monitor abnormal, wrong, or illegal acts by employees, players, or wrongdoers in game facilities for example furnished with pachinko game machines and slot machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
The game balls (pachinko balls) remaining when a play is over with a pachinko game machine for example, have in a sense monetary values because they are exchanged with prize commodities. Therefore, it is possible that skilled wrongdoers attempt to swindle pachinko balls through illegal tricks.
In recent years, pachinko balls are also rented out in various ways. In a way, game balls are rented out by inserting cash into the so-called sandwiched device placed between pachinko game machines. In another way, a player first buys with cash a prepaid card or a like card having the same function as the prepaid card, and inserts the card into the sandwiched device to receive pachinko balls. As described above, in game facilities there are many devices to handle money such as bills or coins, or quasi money having the same values as money.
In such a situation, there are many devices and machines furnished in game facilities to monitor wrongdoings. For example, the pachinko game machines are furnished with a cheat sensor for detecting electromagnetic waves, magnetic forces, or vibration used by a cheater in an attempt to swindle game balls. When such a sensor is actuated, warning is issued or notification is given to a higher rank computer. Devices for handling quasi money for example are also furnished with a theft sensor to perform similar monitoring and warning functions, or arranged that internal operation of the device is permitted to limited employees on condition that an employee inserts an employee's card the employee carries, so that a warning is issued or notification is given to a higher rank computer when the operation is wrong.
In still another arrangement, for example, the entire hall of a game facility is watched with a single or plural monitoring video cameras.
In still another arrangement, history of employee's operation of the devices for handling quasi money is successively recorded to discourage employees from wrongdoing.
Now, there are many types of wrong acts that are thought to be perpetrated in game facilities. Conventionally, those acts are handled as a whole with a limited number of personnel who are also busy doing other ordinary jobs. So the wrong acts are not necessarily immediately coped with.
Even if the employees' history record is taken to find wrong acts of employees, the types of wrong acts are numerous and wrong acts are not easy to find.
Furthermore, wrong acts may be perpetrated not only during the business hours but also outside the business hours, and since power supply to various devices is turned off outside the business hours, there is the possibility that anomaly sensors do not work, or detection and measures are delayed.
Still another problem is that employees versed in the monitor functions may replace a memory (such as a RAM) that has recorded the history of wrong operations, or erase such wrongdoing history without using a regular monitoring computer. Conventionally, such a problem is not sufficiently taken into consideration.
Therefore, a game facility monitoring system with improved wrongdoing monitoring functions is in demand.